(In Barbados with the kind compliments of Carib Beer, Giftland, GT&T’s Emagine, 4R, May’s Shopping Centre and Bakewell)
LED by a belligerent 88 from opener Johann Myburgh, English County team Hampshire booked a place in the final of the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) Caribbean Twenty20 tournament when they scraped past the Windward Islands by four runs in the first semifinal at the Kensington Oval last night. Winning the toss and opting to take first strike on a fast track, Hampshire who were led by Myburgh, James Vince (36) and skipper James Adams 22, reached 166-4 from their 20 overs, to which the Windward Islands were held to 162-7 from their 20 overs.
Myburgh started in convincing fashion when he struck Nelon Pascal back past him for four, followed by a six over wide mid-wicket as Hampshire raced to 23 without loss in the fourth over.
Adams joined the boundary-hitting act by hitting Kenroy Peters for a six over long off, followed by a four that sped past Mathurin at fine leg, as the Hampshire pair, who displayed aggressive running between the wickets, raced to 40 without loss after 5 overs.
A direct hit from Andre Fletcher fielding at short fine leg, accounted for Adams who scored his runs off 15 deliveries with two fours and one six and after 10 overs, Hampshire were 60-1 with Myburgh on 27 and James Vince 9.
A visibly limping Myburgh, who used Adams as his runner, was given a life by Windwards skipper Darren Sammy who got his hands onto an overhead catch running back from extra cover off Keron Cottoy when on 29 and to rub salt into the wound, Vince struck Sammy back over his head for six.
Cottoy was also slog-swept over squareleg by Vince, while Myburgh told Sammy thanks for the let-off when he too struck Cottoy, the Windward Islands 2008 youth skipper, over long on and back over his head for six, the third of the over as Hampshire raced to 96-1 in the 13th over.
Having brought up their first 50 from 7 overs, Hampshire realised the second from 6.3 overs, as Myburgh and Vince who added 75 for the second wicket, took a liking to the bowling of Sammy and Cottoy, with the latter’s final over going for 21 runs.
Mervin Matthew (1-18) replaced Cottoy from the Northern End and when his fifth ball was flicked to fine leg by Myburgh, the Englishman had realised his second half century of the tournament, which took him 44 balls to accumulate, decorated with three fours and a similar number of sixes.
The right-handed Myburgh later named man-of-the-match celebrated in fine style by pulling a short ball from Sammy over midwicket for his fourth six, before Vince was spectacularly run-out by Cottoy whose strong return from long on found the batsman short of his ground at the non-strikers end.
He added 75 for the second wicket with Myburgh that took them 9.3 overs to compile, with Vince contributing 36 made off 32 balls with two sixes and one four, while Myburgh was battling the pain in his right leg to be on 64 when he was joined by Sean Ervine.
Peters returned from the Media Centre end in the 18th over and was sent crashing into the Peter Shortt Media Centre by Myburgh, followed by a four over wide long-on that took Hampshire to 148-2 at the end of that over, with Myburgh on 79 and Ervine 9.
Myburgh batted for all but four balls in his team’s innings, facing 58 of them and hitting six sixes and five fours in his 88 before he was bowled by Matthew, as Hampshire ended on an imposing 166-4 from their 20 overs, losing Ervine via run-out off the final ball.
Charles returned to start the Windwards reply with Fletcher (44) and he steered Danny Briggs to third man for four, before he was caught by Benjamin Howell at short midwicket off Simon Jones (2-42) in the second over, after scoring all of his 8 runs in Briggs’ first over.
Fletcher responded by hitting Jones for tow fours and one six in his second over that pushed his personal score to 23 and when Devon Smith who had a quiet start punched Christopher Wood through extra cover for four followed by a tickle to fine leg, Windward Islands were 47-1 midway in the sixth over.
Smith continued to flay the English bowling attack by dispatching Briggs over wide midwicket for six in the eighth over, pushing his personal score to 26 before he was caught at the wicket by Michael Bates off Hamza Riazuddin, leaving the Windwards on 75-2 in the 10th over and at the same time breaking his 65-run second-wicket partnership with Fletcher.
The Windwards realised their 100 from 13.4 overs, counting seven fours and four sixes, with Fletcher on 43 and Sammy 15 which included two of the four sixes and fittingly, Sammy celebrated the achievement for his team by flicking Wood to fine leg for his first four.
Needing 53 runs from their final five overs, Windward Islands lost both Sammy and Fletcher to Riazuddin, with the skipper holing out to Liam Dawson on the midwicket boundary, while Fletcher was smartly stumped by Bates off successful balls, while Mathurin (02) was caught by Vince off the final ball of the 16th over.
Fletcher faced 43 deliveries for his 44, hitting three fours and one six, while Sammy struck two sixes and one four in his 20 that took him 13 balls, but most importantly for Hampshire, their departure left Windward Islands on 116-6 in the 17th over.
The Windward Islands started the penultimate over in search of 29 to win and saw Peters hit the first delivery from Wood over long on for six, but the runs dried up, left them needing 18 off the final over bowled by Jones, who conceded 14 runs as they ended on 162-7.

HAMPSHIRE innings
J. Adams run-out (Fletcher)    22
J. Myburgh b Matthew    88
J. Vince run-out (Cottoy/Sammy)    36
S. Ervine run-out (Lesporis/James)    17
B. Howell not out    1
Extras: (lb-2)    2
Total: (for 3 wickets, off 20 overs)    166
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-122, 3-160.
Bowling: Pascal 4-0-38-0, Mathurin 4-0-16-0, Peters 2-0-27-0, Cottoy 4-0-31-0, Sammy 4-0-34-0, Matthew 2-0-18-1.

WINDWARD ISLANDS innings
J. Charles c Howell b Jones    9
A. Fletcher stp. Bates b Riazuddin    44
D. Smith c wkp. Bates b Riazuddin    27
K. Lesporis run-out (Adams/Briggs)    7  
D. Sammy c Dawson b Riazuddin    20
L. James lbw Jones    9
G. Mathurin c Vince b Riazuddin    2
M. Matthew not out    27
K. Peters not out    6
Extras: (b-1, lb-5, w-3, nb-3)    12
Total: (for 7 wickets, off 20 overs)    162
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-75, 3-85, 4-114, 5-114, 6-117, 7-132.
Bowling: Briggs 4-0-30-0, Jones 4-0-42-2 (nb-1, w-3), Riazuddin 4-0-15-4, Wood 3-0-25-0, Myburgh 2-0-13-0, Lawson 3-0-31-0 (nb-1).